Initially spy's criminal record is badly exaggerated by a secretary (6)
I believe the answer is:
scribe
'a secretary' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'initially spy's criminal record is badly exaggerated' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'spys criminal record is badly exaggerated' is 'SCRIBE'.
'by' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for scribe that I've seen before include "Former document copier" , "Professional writer" , "Medieval clerk" , "Professional copyist" , "Document writer" .)